The Road is Winding (poem)

 

The Road Is Winding

 

1

 

Kaikoura is a stop for coffee

& views of the ocean

receding away

forever

 

I startle a tern which

flaps away into a moving car

it is last seen descending

rapidly down a bank

 

I feel guilty about it

for the rest of the journey

 

2

 

above are screeching gulls

shredding the cerulean sky

below the sea casually mumbles

the world’s secrets

 

if only we knew this language

of rocks & saltwater

kelp & shifting sands…

 

the road hugging the coast

along narrow shoulders

 

of rock, past beaches

& promontories,

through tunnels

scooped out

by the tide’s restless fingers

 

the reach of the ocean

 

3

 

once darkness has overcome us

we are still driving into

geographies of our ignorance

the headlights illuminating our way

the stars silently revolving above

 

we have left the coast behind

who knows where the hell we are

 

these roads have no ending

they just go on & on

silently moving us

into uncharted territory

 

we are lost sailors

on a sea of black roads

leading to forever

searching for the paths

that climb to the sky –

 

follow the stars

follow the moon

 

 

Joanne Fisher

 

The last two lines of this poem were going to be the title of my next poetry collection which has been in limbo for a few years now…

 

This poem was first published in JAAM and first appeared on this blog in April 2018.

 

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©2020 Joanne Fisher